Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again (1 Thessalonians 5:23, NLT).
There are many books that we can read on a healthy lifestyle.
You can read Healthy Gut, Healthy You or Lifespan: Why We Age and Why We Don’t Have To or The Sleep Revolution and the most outlandish title of all—How Not To Die.
I believe you can read the above books plus hundreds more about a healthy lifestyle and not gain more understanding than what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:23:
May your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
There is a grocery store named Whole Foods Market that advertises natural and organic items. The word “whole” in the Greek of 1 Thessalonians 5:23 describes our entire being—our spirit (spiritually), soul (psychologically), and body (physically).
The Bible is a whole health book.
We shouldn’t believe the claims of the book How Not To Die, but by following the Bible’s whole health plan, our spirit and soul will live for eternity in a new body.
I want to read the Bible more than shop at the Whole Foods store. How about you?
What’s the key principle of the Bible’s health plan? Consider the first part of 1 Thessalonians 5:23:
Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way…
Peace is satisfaction and joy without anxiety. This peace comes from holiness. Uh, oh. Our culture wants peace, but it resists holiness.
But let’s understand holiness.
It’s a process of cleansing ourselves from that which causes disease, fear, and anger. The God of Peace, with His not-so-secret ingredients of grace and mercy, is the only source of this purification.
Follow God, and we find whole health, turn away from God, and we find despair.
Reading books on health, we find these promises:
- 100 recipes to live to 100!
- How to harness microbes—inside and out—for lifelong health!
- The energy of breath!
I’m skeptical.
Books on the bestseller lists make grandiose claims that we believe. In contrast, do we believe the Bible’s promises about our health? Let’s consider all the claims ever written on health and realize that they can’t compete with what the Apostle Paul states:
God will make this happen, for He who calls you is faithful (1 Thessalonians 5:24, NLT).
Finally, a plan that will work, not because of our ability to follow a diet plan, but because God is faithful.
But do we believe it?